Looking for a good refurbished MacPro

Hey everyone,

So I've been watching the net for several months for an appropriately priced, used, Macbook Pro.

What I'm going to primarily use this for is streaming broadcasts on uStream (replaying HD video) as well as video editing. I'm currently using a 2.2GHz intel core 2 duo Macbook Pro however I have found that the stream is extremely choppy and I assume that it is because the processor isn't fast enough. Most of my video isn't live, I use video playlists in camtwist. Rendering videos in After Effects also takes a long time.

I've found a couple interesting used units online and I'm curious what your thoughts are on them. I want to ensure that the system will be fast, even if it may not be the newest available.

Option 1
2 Dual QuadCores CPUs- Intel Xeon 5365 @ 3.0 Ghz 1.33 Ghz. 8mb L2 cache
1 ATI Radeon X1900 Graphics Card
8 Gb RAM (4x 2 GB)
500Gb Hard Drive
Mac OS X 10.5.8 Leopard, recently reinstalled.
Price: $1,350 + s/h

If I did option 1, would it be worth purchasing a newer, perhaps faster, graphics card?


Option 2 (sorry for caps, I'm simply copying and pasting)
2xQUAD XEON 2.66GHZ = 8CORE
8GB DDR2 RAM 667MHZ
1TB SATA HDD 7200 RPM
SUPERDRIVE (DVD+/-RW DL)
AIRPORT EXTREME
BLUETOOTH
ATI RADEON HD 4870 512MB
DUAL GIGABIT ETHERNET
Price $1,440 + s/h

Would anything be worth upgrading on this?


Option 3
3.2 GHz Quad Core 45-nm Intel Xeon X5482 (Harpertown/Penryn) processors with 12 MB of level 2 cache per processor (128-bit SSE4 SIMD vector engine, 1.6 GHz "64-bit dual independent frontside buses)
10 GB RAM
NVidia GeForce 8800 GT - 512 mb
Dual 500GB HD's
Extra PCIe card with 2 more firewire 400 ports
Airport Extreme
double-layer 16X "SuperDrive"
Includes: Snow Leopard iLife '11 iWork '09 Adobe MASTER collection
Price: $1,700 + s/h


Let me know your thoughts on these. I'm really interested in going for whatever one will give me the best bang for my buck + be able to handle my requirements.

Thanks!
Mike

MikeWalczak said:

So I've been watching the net for several months for an appropriately priced, used, Macbook Pro.

Click to expand...

What are you looking for...a Mac Pro or a MacBook Pro?

Your title says "Mac Pro"...and the quote above says "MacBook Pro". Mac Pros are a large desktop computer...and MacBook Pros are a laptop. According to the 3 options you listed...it looks like you're looking for a Mac Pro...it was just sort of confusing why you mentioned the info about a MacBook Pro in the beginning of the post.

- Nick

My mistake. I'm looking for a Mac PRO. I'm currently on my Macbook Pro which is why my mind must have slipped temporarily.

Again, I'm looking for a Mac PRO.

The best machine is obviously the Harpertown and the best video card the ATI Radeon HD4870, particularly if it is the flashed 1GB version. Personally would buy the Harpertown and look to upgrade to a 4870/5870 card later.

The extra memory will also be an asset.